Article · Israel and the ChurchBiblical exposition · Apologetics
Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world
The New Testament Is a Very Jewish Story Israel's Messiah, Israel's Scriptures, and a gospel for the world To many Jewish people, Christianity appears thoroughly foreign. Its historic centres be…
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Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
Does the New Testament Reaffirm Israel's Promises? Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy The Old Testament repeatedly promises Israel preservation, regatherin…
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Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
Daniel's Seventieth Week and the New Testament Tribulation Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem The seven-year Tribulation is sometimes dismissed as an interval invented to make a…
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Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
…rael and the Church Really the Same? Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose The New Testament teaches a unity so profound that it would have startled the ancient world. In Christ, Jewish and Gentile believers are reconciled to God in one body. Both possess the same Spir…
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Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ
…d nationally refused its Messiah. Jerusalem was judged, the temple was destroyed, and the Jewish people were scattered among the nations. Does covenant unfaithfulness permit us to conclude that God has permanently abandoned the nation? The answer depends partly upon a distinction…
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Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
…he Restoration of the Nation of Israel Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come Israel's history contains both judgement and preservation. The Jewish people were conquered, exiled, dispersed across continents, denied sovereignty, and repeatedly perse…
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A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance
Why Did Jesus Choose Twelve Apostles? A sign of Israel's renewal, not Israel's disappearance Jesus did not choose twelve apostles because twelve happened to be a convenient number. He could have appointed seven, seventy, or any other number. Instead…
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Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew
…:18-20). He confronts the contradiction between teaching the law and breaking it. Through Jewish disobedience, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles (Romans 2:21-24). On the ordinary reading, Paul is addressing a representative Jew who relies upon possession of the law…
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The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
…r true meaning in Christ and now belong to the multinational Church. Others maintain that Jewish and Gentile believers are one in Christ while national Israel still has an appointed future under the covenants. This is not a contest over which group matters more. Jewish people hav…
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What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
…all God's promises have transferred to the Church. Israel's land becomes a figure of the new creation, David's throne becomes Christ's present heavenly rule, and Israel's promised national restoration becomes the salvation of the multinational Church. The promises are not said t…
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A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…eologian. It developed as the Church became increasingly Gentile, separated socially from Jewish communities, interpreted the destruction of Jerusalem as lasting displacement, and read Israel's Scriptures principally through their fulfilment in Christ and the Church. The resultin…
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A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…whom Christ gathers after the Tribulation? Many readers assume the answer is obvious. The New Testament applies the language of election to Christians, so the elect in Matthew 24 must be the Church. If they are gathered after the Tribulation, the passage appears to place the rapt…
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The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
…s: there is one tree, believing Jews and Gentiles are branches within it, and unbelieving Jewish branches have been removed. Surely the tree is now the Church, the Church is Israel, and the distinction has disappeared. That argument gives the metaphor real weight, but it moves to…
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The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery
…the discourse is operating within Israel's prophetic programme rather than explaining the newly formed body of Christ in Pauline terms. Daniel's abomination is especially important. Jesus says that when it appears, "then shall be great tribulation" (Matthew 24:15, 21). Daniel 9 p…
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What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises
…braham, the faithful Israelite, David's greater Son, the true temple, and mediator of the new covenant. The Church is united to Him. Jewish and Gentile believers therefore become one people, inherit the promises, and anticipate not merely one land but the renewed creation. On thi…
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The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards
…rd placed under faithful care. The judgement is not therefore an abstract denunciation of Jewish ethnicity. Nor is it a declaration that God's promises had always belonged spiritually to a different people. It is a polemic against identifiable rulers at a decisive moment in Israe…
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Defining the position before testing it
…The promises reach their final meaning in Christ and the Church; any future conversion of Jewish people is their entrance into the Church, not the restoration of Israel as a nation with a distinctive covenant role. That definition identifies the central claim without pretending t…
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